IOC plans to hold canceled Tokyo session remotely

FILE – In this April 16, 2020, file photo, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori, left, speaks in teleconference with John Coates, chairman of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics were postponed a month ago. But there are still more questions than answers about the new opening on July 23, 2021 and what form those games will take.(Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The International Olympic Committee revealed on Wednesday plans to hold its next session initially scheduled for Tokyo before the opening of the 2020 Games by video link to be streamed live on July 17.

A statement from the IOC’s Lausanne headquarters said a remote session was on the cards after this summer’s Games were delayed a year and because of the “measures being implemented in Switzerland and around the world to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“The IOC Executive Board (EB) will discuss holding the 136th IOC Session remotely through a secure electronic system on Friday 17 July 2020, from 12 to 4 p.m. CEST; and the plan is for it to be live streamed,” the statement read.

The agenda and organization of the IOC Session, including a secure electronic voting system, will be worked out by the EB who hold their next meeting remotely on May 14.

The Tokyo Games scheduled for July 24 to August 9 were postponed on March 24 for one year due to the virus which has killed over 250,000 around the world.

Last week Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it would be “difficult” to hold the postponed Olympics if the coronavirus pandemic was not contained.